When I first saw and heard the opening/closing credits for the NBC Nightly News years ago, I felt that the theme song, "The Mission", which was indeed by John Williams, was so epic that politicians may have intentionally gotten themselves into scandals so that the news surrounding them would be greeted by that song. I had the great urge to stand up and salute Tom Brokaw.
I gather that my exploration into Japanese TV non-drama show themes continues following my writeup on TV Asahi's theme song a few days ago. Less than half an hour ago, I encountered the first several seconds of NHK's morning show from 1980, then known as "NHK News Wide". As much as I could recognize NBC's "The Mission" as a John Williams composition almost instantly, I listened to the opening theme song for "NHK News Wide" and also pegged the composer just like that. The video above has the 1985 opening.
The year and the percolating technopop for the theme song had me thinking Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and looking up the article for "NHK News Wide" on J-Wiki, I was right. The Professor did whip up the first opening instrumental theme song (1980-1983) for the program, and if I'm not mistaken, the video right here has not only the theme song but the variations on it for segues between segments.
Ryuichi Sakamoto is a genius. That's all there is to say.
ReplyDeleteI hope that he's a recovering one, too. He's had that second round of cancer.
DeleteBowel cancer, although I don't know what stage. Very unfortunate. Hope and pray he recovers, or at least doesn't have to endure prolonged suffering. He's contributed so much to the art, along with fellow YMO members Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono. Music pioneers. God bless them.
ReplyDeleteStay strong Sakamoto-san.